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5/18/2000
Get
It Together
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by Liz Kelley Kerstens, CGRS
This
columns is posted on the Clooz.com Web site with
permission of
MyFamily.com. The
column was originally posted on the Ancestry.com
Web site.
Trash Freedom Day–A
Cultural Experience
The expression "One man’s
junk is another man’s treasure" was never more
evident to me than this past weekend in my hometown of
Plymouth, MI. Once a year city residents are granted, in
essence, a trash freedom day. On our regular trash
collection day in mid-May, most rules for curbside trash
are lifted and we can put out nearly anything for pickup.
Normally, we have a weekly pickup where we can put out any
recyclables for free, and pay $1 per 30-gallon container
of trash. Large items and building materials can’t be
put curbside except on this trash freedom day–otherwise
you have to pay extra for a special pickup.
As you can imagine, with those
kinds of restraints spring cleanup takes on a whole new
character. In our constant quest to organize our
household, my husband and I have spent months building our
too-big-to-throw-away pile behind our garage, anticipating
our 15 May collection date. So by this past Saturday, we
were anxious to start putting our junk in front of the
house.
I was out of town for last year’s
trash freedom day, so I didn’t experience this Plymouth
cultural phenomenon first hand. Was I in for a treat! We
carted several furniture items to the curb late Saturday
afternoon. On a return trip with another load of stuff, we
noticed a lady had jumped out of a van stopped in front of
the house and she grabbed two end tables we had put out
for the public free-for-all. On the next return trip with
some excess building materials, we were shocked to
discover that the three old dressers from the previous
trips had already vanished without a trace of the vehicle
that took them away. That’s also about the time we
noticed that cars and vans were slowing down in front of
our house to check out our offerings. We hadn’t noticed
this before because we were actually the trend setters in
the neighborhood–no one else on our block had yet put
out their formerly prized possessions.
We continued to put out our stuff
and people continued to stop by and pick through the piles
and cart away their new finds. It became quite comical to
watch. At one point, my husband had brought out a box of
stuff that contained the bases to two lamps. A man stopped
in front of the house and, among other things, took the
two lamp bases. About five minutes later, my husband
returned with another box that contained the rest of the
lamps. Too bad the man didn’t wait five more minutes!
But, alas, someone else found a use for the lamp tops
because they disappeared shortly afterward.
This is normally a pretty quiet
little city and our street may normally see only one or
two cars an hour. By Sunday, the caravans of vehicles
parading up and down the Plymouth streets had become a bit
overwhelming. We live close to family members whom we were
visiting with on Mother’s Day. But in order to drive the
short distance to our destination, we had to dodge cars
with rug remnants tied on top, SUVs, and vans towing
trailers overladen with other people’s discards. We even
had to pass two vehicles on a side street that were only
going 3 miles an hour scoping out the curbside treasures!
One man commented that this was the "ultimate in
recycling."
I’m told that some of the
treasure hunters sell their finds at yard sales or flea
markets. People do get tired of possessions and discard
them even if they’re in good shape. We’ve all heard
stories of valuable antique collectibles that were
purchased for a song at yard sales. Maybe some of them
were on the streets of Plymouth this past weekend. Maybe
some of the items we put out will help furnish the homes
of people who couldn’t otherwise afford these items.
From my perspective, the trash freedom day serves two
useful objectives. First, spring cleanups at Plymouth
homes are encouraged and assisted by allowing nearly all
throw-away items to be placed curbside. Second, the
landfills don’t become overly clogged with large items
because others who may be able to better utilize the items
are allowed to carry them away for free.
I had a cultural awakening this
past weekend. I’m already looking forward to next year.
Elizabeth Kelley
Kerstens, CGRS,
is the managing editor of Genealogical Computing,
editor of the Board for Certification of Genealogists’
newsletter OnBoard, the creator of Clooz—the
electronic filing cabinet for genealogical records, and a
frequent contributor to Ancestry. She can be
reached via e-mail at liz@ancestordetective.com.
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